Climate Politics
Europe’s Rubber Addiction Destroys Africa’s Tropical Forests
- Rubber poses bigger African deforestation threat than palm oil
- New EU law to curb environmental damage doesn’t address rubber
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Europe’s demand for rubber to make tires and other products is destroying tropical forests across Africa and proposals from Brussels to limit environmental damage currently do little to address the problem.
A new satellite data study by non-profit Global Witness links European Union rubber imports to the deforestation of 520 square kilometers in Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Ivory Coast Liberia and Nigeria since the start of the millennium. Rubber poses a bigger threat to Africa than the bloc’s imports of palm oil, yet it is not included in a law designed to stop trees being cut down outside of the EU.